Hundreds turn out for Auckland army parade

Hundreds lined up along Auckland's Queen St for a colourful army parade that kicked off with a rousing haka today.

The historic parade marked the presentation of a new charter linking the 3rd Auckland and Northland Battalion Group with the city it draws many of its members from.

It is the first such charter to acknowledge the battalion's civic ties since the new Auckland City was established.

Hundreds turned out to cheer on the soldiers, who were decked out in full dress uniform and carried drawn swords and rifles with bayonets affixed.

The battalion was greeted in Aotea Square by local iwi Ngati Whatua before Auckland Mayor Len Brown inspected the 170 soldiers and presented the new charter.

A rousing haka kicked off the colourful parade, which saw the soldiers march down Queen St and back to the town hall to the beating of drums and a brass band.

Leading the parade was an armoured vehicle, like those used by New Zealand forces in Afghanistan, displaying the battalion colours and towing the colour artillery gun.

A number of Occupy protesters used the occasion to try to push their message but they did not interfere with proceedings, an army spokesman said.

"It was a great occasion, people enjoyed themselves, and lovely weather to boot."

Many of the parading soldiers have served overseas, with deployments in Bosnia, Timor Leste, the Solomon Islands, Afghanistan, Korea and the Middle East.